


moondance

by scoups_ahoy



Series: fractured moonlight [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Pirates, Prequel, Semi-Public Sex, Slight Smut, Sort of? - Freeform, but really really brief, idk they mostly just kiss and they're drunk and horny, naval lieutenant seungcheol, pirate captain jeonghan, what do you want from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:47:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28180383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scoups_ahoy/pseuds/scoups_ahoy
Summary: “What do you care if I live or if I die?"Jeonghan raises a brow, perfect lips pursed.  He stays like this for a moment before leaning forward once more, calloused fingertips brushing Seungcheol’s hand.  There’s a heaviness to his eyelids that Seungcheol likes, a softness to his touch that sends shivers through his body.  Pirate or not, he’s incredibly beautiful and Seungcheol finds himself intrigued, over all logic.  “Mm, why don’t we keep that my little secret, lieutenant?”“I don’t trust you,” Seungcheol says but he turns towards Jeonghan anyway, somehow, strangely, intrinsically drawn to this man, this pirate.“You don’t have a choice.” He traces shapes into the skin of Seungcheol’s hand, smirking demurely.• ☾ •In 1853, on a routine mission for the King of Joseon, naval Lieutenant Choi Seungcheol finds himself in Ningpo, a free port on the Qing coast.  There he meets the most infamous pirate to sail on Joseon's seas - Captain Yoon Jeonghan.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan
Series: fractured moonlight [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064417
Comments: 9
Kudos: 104





	moondance

**Author's Note:**

> hello all!! this is a prequel to my upcoming pirate au, "Fractured Moonlight"! i hope you enjoy!

**moondance.**

This time of night, the streets of Ningpo are all but empty. Lanterns unlit, not a soul to be seen - for a moment Seungcheol feels utterly alone. From the deck of his ship all he sees is darkness, broken only by shadows of buildings and cargo crates. All he hears are waves crashing on the shore, rocking the ship slowly, thunderous in the night’s silence. A soft sea breeze swirls through the air, through the stray wisps of hair that rest against Seungcheol's neck - and for once in this bund of chaos, there is peace (his men quietly snoring below decks only helps matters).

Still, he grabs his sword before he leaves the ship, and keeps a hand on it as he walks.

Just in case.

This _is_ technically a free port (as free as a port can be nestled this deep into Qing lands) but they’re far enough away from Joseon that he can’t be too careful. Not when he’s heard the stories of the tributary runners that came before him. Not when this port is crawling with pirates.

 _“Keep an eye out,”_ his commanding officer had said before they departed, motioning to the wall of wanted posters behind him. And so Seungcheol had studied said wall, until he knew the faces and names of those terrible men by heart.

Captain Kim Hongjoong and his crew of - of boys, really. Cha Hakyeon and his band of naval defectors. Captain Yoon Jeonghan, sailing under Wen Junhui’s colors.

Of course, Wen Junhui is on the wall too, handsome features etched in an eternal smirk, but it’ll be much easier to capture one of his men. Or so Seungcheol hopes, since catching a pirate like Yoon Jeonghan will no doubt make him a captain of his own squad almost immediately. Perhaps more.

But that means he has to find the man first, and Ningpo is a sprawling mess of a port.

Though, Seungcheol imagines, many of the people here presumably don’t have the captain’s long, golden hair.

He sighs heavily, holding tight to the hilt of his sword as he steps off the ship. His focus isn’t pirate hunting; his focus is meeting with Qing officials tomorrow to ensure the tributary shipment is handed off correctly - and then he and the others are to return to Joseon. But how _nice_ would it be to make something more of this journey?

Really, he ought to stay back on the ship and sleep, like the rest of his men. Prepare for the morning. But he _can’t._ There’s something in this city that calls to him; something that he can’t ignore. He supposes it’s the very same feeling that inspired him to volunteer for this position in the first place - there’s so much to explore. So much to discover. And what better way to do so than guided by the cover of night?

(The desire to explore calls to him, indeed, and he absolutely plans on heeding it - but perhaps there’s a part of him driven by a rumbling in his stomach, too. After more than a week at sea he’s hungry for something other than Mingyu’s cooking, delicious as it often is.)

As he walks, he tries to take stock of what he can see. It’s not quite different from the port towns outside of Hanseong if he’s being honest. Shack-like homes and buildings that will stand the test of time and sea even after being constructed so hastily. Between them, thin streets dotted with crates and makeshift stands; he can hear the echoes of peddlers advertising their wares, of passersby cursing when they bump into someone - and he wonders how crowded these streets get during the day. He wonders how easy it would be to just… get lost in it all.

A sign above a door catches his attention; he recognizes four different languages painted onto the wood in white but he can only understand two of them. Technically, just one since his grasp on the written Qing language is not… the greatest (the other languages, he thinks, are perhaps English and probably Japanese). But there, illuminated by the only lit lantern on this entire street, he reads _tavern_ in Hangul. Of course, an establishment like this would be the only one operating at this time of night, and if it weren’t for the annoying rumbling in his stomach he might ignore it. But he is indeed hungry. So he pushes the door open.

Inside, the tavern is well-lit - and crowded. People from all walks of life - some in uniforms he recognizes, others in casual clothes - sit at the bar, at the tables strewn around the main room. Englishmen, Qing vendors, Japanese sailors, American seamen mingle together, their chatter a rather calm hum to Seungcheol’s senses.

They’re all armed, as well. Guns or swords.

Is this crowd different in daylight, he wonders? Or is walking around Ningpo constantly armed a habit of the precautionary type?

Something warm and savory reaches his nose then; a scent he does not recognize but his stomach rumbles angrily at anyhow. It leads him to the bar and he squishes between bodies, mind whirling as he tries to remember the rudimentary Qing he’s been taught. But how does one ask for something when they do not know what it is they’re asking for?

As the barkeep approaches, Seungcheol stumbles over his words - something of a greeting, he’s all but certain - but he’s cut off by a soft, throaty voice. Lightly accented Qing, speaking too quickly for Seungcheol to catch on. The barkeep nods at the stranger and turns his back. Moments later a bowl is sitting in front of Seungcheol, full of a white-brown soup giving off the same aroma that led him here. He utters a word of thanks to the barkeep before turning towards the stranger -

And his heart sinks into his empty stomach.

Staring back at him is a smirk he knows so well, one he’s studied for days straight. He’s seen it staring him in the face, sunk onto yellowing parchment in thick black ink, countless times. Framed by big eyes that never seemed as mischievous as they are in person and a sharp, slender nose. Pieces of his golden hair have strayed from the braid the rest of it lays in, and they border his handsome face in a way that leaves Seungcheol rather breathless.

It is a handsome face he knows well.

“Yoon Jeonghan,” he manages in his shock.

Yoon Jeonghan merely laughs; it’s as charming as it is nerve-grating and Seungcheol’s hand flies to the hilt of his sword once again. “What, no ‘thank you’?” He leans forward, eyes sparkling in that tipsy way Seungcheol sees from his men so often. “At least try the tofu. It’s to die for.”

Yoon Jeonghan is here, sitting in this tavern, right in front of his face. Yoon Jeonghan ordered _food_ for him. Yoon Jeonghan is smiling at him, the epitome of beauty.

“It’s really you,” he says rather stupidly.

He just continues to grin and brushes some of his loose hair behind his ear. “It is indeed me, lieutenant. You are you - and this is a free port, in the Great Qing, no less.” He leans forward as if sharing a secret. “You have no jurisdiction here, or don’t you remember?”

Yoon Jeonghan is here and talking to him like he’s a _fool._ But he’s right. Seungcheol has no jurisdiction; neither do any Qing officials. It’s irony of the worst sort (he blames the westerners here) and Seungcheol relaxes his grip on his sword, opting instead for a hard set to his jaw. But if Jeonghan’s perturbed by it, it doesn’t show. “What’s to stop me from arresting you anyway?”

“As if you would, lieutenant.” He turns towards his own bowl of tofu and takes a bite. Swallows it. The muscles in his slender throat work rather beautifully and Seungcheol finds himself unable to speak. Perhaps just the way Yoon Jeonghan wants. “You follow regulation to the letter, or so Junhui’s naval informants have told us. And with Qing-Joseon relations as shaky as they are right now, you wouldn’t dare break a single rule. Even in a port like Ningpo.”

Now Seungcheol is stunned into silence not by beauty but by the pirate’s words. His brain works to make sense of them and he’s left with a revelation that rocks the core of his very beliefs. Pirate Lord Wen Junhui has hands in the Joseon Navy? And Wen - Wen _knows_ about him?

“Oh don’t look so surprised,” Jeonghan smirks, leaning back in his seat. “How else do you think I’ve managed to evade capture for as long as I have?” Reaching out with a dainty hand that shouldn’t hold the scars it does, he pats the chair beside him. “Sit with me, Lieutenant Choi. Let’s have a conversation, and eat some tofu.”

“Why would I want to sit with a pirate like you?” Seungcheol snaps, though his traitorous stomach is more than prepared to abandon his morals just for a meal.

Jeonghan shrugs in a nonchalant way that only irritates Seungcheol more, as if nothing in the world means anything to him. It’s exactly the attitude he would expect from a pirate but it still pisses him off. “Your choice, but I think the fine gentlemen over there in that corner want to spend time with you too. But I doubt it’d be as… enjoyable as a night with me.”

Heart suddenly hammering in his chest, he scans the room until he finds the group of men Jeonghan is referring to: five or six Japanese pirates. They sit at a table murmuring to each other, looking directly at Seungcheol in a way that makes his skin crawl.

“They can’t kill me,” he tells Jeonghan in a wavering voice. “This is a free port.”

“Oh lieutenant,” he says, the syllables dripping from his lips like honey. “‘Free port’ means something incredibly different for pirates than it does navy officials. So if you want to make it through the night, I suggest you swallow your pride and sit with me, hmm?”

Something begrudging in Seungcheol’s train of thought admits that he’s once again right and so his mind - and stomach - win out over his heart. This time. He sits down beside Jeonghan and almost immediately begins tearing into the still-warm soup. It’s just as delicious as it smells, and he feels Jeonghan’s eyes on him as he eats. Neither of them speaks, and Seungcheol is content to keep it that way - until he taps chopsticks against damp wood and looks down to find the bowl empty.

Beside him, Jeonghan produces a sparkling little laugh that sings through Seungcheol’s body. “It’s incredible, isn’t it? I’ve tried to get a recipe from Junhui to bring back to Joseon but he says I can’t, that it belongs here in Qing.” He rolls his eyes, speaking so nonchalantly as if he and Seungcheol are friends -

“What do you care if I live or if I die?” he asks.

Jeonghan raises a brow, perfect lips pursed. He stays like this for a moment before leaning forward once more, calloused fingertips brushing Seungcheol’s hand. There’s a heaviness to his eyelids that Seungcheol likes, a softness to his touch that sends shivers through his body. Pirate or not, he’s incredibly beautiful and Seungcheol finds himself intrigued, over all logic. “Mm, why don’t we keep that my little secret, lieutenant?”

“I don’t trust you,” Seungcheol says but he turns towards Jeonghan anyway, somehow, strangely, intrinsically _drawn_ to this man, this pirate.

“You don’t have a choice.” He traces shapes into the skin of Seungcheol’s hand, smirking demurely. “Now, let’s get a drink in you, hmm? You look like you could use one.”

Despite his best judgment, he ends up agreeing - a drink sounds nice. As it turns out, this tavern has soju (or so Jeonghan informs him with a shine in his eyes that makes Seungcheol think he has something to do with it) and sometime later, Seungcheol finds himself rather tipsy. Sometime between the first bottle and the fourth, they moved to a table tucked in the back and now Seungcheol’s eyes are closed, blood thrumming through his body as Yoon Jeonghan kisses his neck.

Somewhere, like a dream he can’t quite recall, he feels several pairs of eyes on them. The low hum of chatter has all but ceased and now he and Jeonghan are the center of attention.

The thought makes him shiver and he tilts his neck to give Jeonghan better access.

He can’t quite remember how they came to this point, what was even said - all he knows is that he likes the way Yoon Jeonghan fits against his side. Likes the warmth of him, the pressure of him, the press of his damp lips on his skin.

The alcohol in his system makes certain he can’t hear his mind protesting. Though he’s not sure he’d listen; not with the desire churning hot and thick in his gut the way it is.

“You don’t do this often, do you, lieutenant?” Jeonghan breathes against his ear, hand expertly skimming down Seungcheol’s chest.

“What makes you say that?” Then, around a breathless chuckle, “Or is that something your informants knew about, as well?”

Jeonghan laughs softly and nibbles his earlobe. “I’m a lot smarter than the navy and the crown give me credit for. Your breath is coming quick, and all I’ve done is kiss you.”

“You’re right,” he murmurs, wrapping an arm around his waist, keeping him close. “I’ve never kissed a pirate in a free port tavern before.”

He draws back to look at Seungcheol and Seungcheol likes the way his eyes shine. “You should do it more often, lieutenant.”

As Jeonghan leans in once more, as he shifts into his lap some, Seungcheol knows he shouldn’t be doing this. Kissing a pirate, letting his guard down - not when he’s all but certain Yoon Jeonghan wants something from him that isn’t sex. Information, no doubt. But he won’t give it; he’s smarter than people think, too. Smarter than a damn pirate, that much he knows for certain.

So he pulls away from Jeonghan only to draw him in for a kiss. It’s a kiss he’s never known before, that sears his very soul, and he moans at the intensity of it. At the way Yoon Jeonghan slides into his lap fully. Their tongues touch and coil, their hands seek out bare skin beneath clothes in the way, their breaths mingle and Seungcheol can’t believe he’s kissing pirate captain Yoon Jeonghan in this tavern, under so many strange gazes. He can’t believe what’s come over him; desire defeating logic.

It’s this thought that makes him break the kiss, the muscles in Jeonghan’s slender thighs jumping beneath his pants, and Seungcheol’s tight grip. It’s heady and alluring, and he could lose himself so easily in it.

“I should get back to my ship,” he murmurs instead, part of him actually meaning it.

“And I mine,” Jeonghan says, eyes shining. “A life of pillaging and plundering never ceases, you know.”

Seungcheol sighs and reaches up to tuck some strands of Jeonghan’s hair behind his ear. “If I see your ship on our return - “

“Would you really shoot me down, lieutenant?” There’s a sultry bite to his voice that is hardly fair. “Or put me in chains?”

He tries to imagine it and comes up with the vision of Jeonghan naked in a bed, bound in cuffs and smirking up at him so divinely. It does things to him he wishes it wouldn’t, cock stirring in his pants. “Perhaps, if I didn’t think you’d enjoy it so much.”

“Why don’t you try it,” he murmurs, leaning in again, “and see?”

They kiss once more, Jeonghan’s thin fingers sliding through Seungcheol’s hair - and then the weight of him is gone; the press of his lips a ghostly tease against Seungcheol’s. He opens his eyes to find Jeonghan on his knees beneath the table, a wicked spark in his gaze that threatens to set Seungcheol ablaze. Hands on his upper thighs, pressing them apart -

Heart pounding, blood singing for Jeonghan’s touch, Seungcheol looks up - and every head snaps away from his direction. The chatter resumes and Seungcheol’s face heats up. Though from the attention of these strangers or the implication of Jeonghan on his knees, he’s not certain.

“Get up,” he hisses.

Jeonghan doesn’t do as he’s told; he brushes Seungcheol’s erection with light fingertips instead, and he resists the urge to buck up into such a vexing touch. “Why?”

“Because,” he tries, desire trying rather valiantly to shut him up with its white-hot promise swirling through his body, “it - it - “

“It’s against the rules?” Jeonghan asks, a teasing lilt to his voice. But he sits back, hands leaving Seungcheol’s body completely, only a few centimeters between the top of his head and the table. “You’re intriguing, lieutenant. Willing to kiss me, a pirate captain, in a free port tavern but that’s as far as you’ll go? Why not all the way, hmm?”

“It’s _wrong,”_ he bites out, trying not to look at Jeonghan, trying not to meet anyone’s gazes.

“Is it?” He sighs heavily and slides out from beneath the table. After stretching his back he looks at Seungcheol with desire still in his eyes. It’s a dark, tempting look and it ignites something in him. “Till next time then.”

Seungcheol frowns. “Next time?”

A smirk crosses his features once more and he retrieves his sword from the table, where he’d discarded it to kiss Seungcheol without hindrance. “You’ll be here every two months or so, as part of the tributary unit, and Ningpo is my home as much as Joseon. So I’ll see you around, lieutenant.”

As Jeonghan heads for the door, Seungcheol’s soju-soaked brain scrambles to keep up with his words. Letting him just _leave_ feels wrong as well, so he follows Jeonghan into the cool night air. Presses him against the exterior wall of the tavern and kisses him hard.

He’s not thinking, not processing anything but Yoon Jeonghan’s slender body and deep kisses and the alcohol numbing his mind. Perhaps this is right where Jeonghan wants him, but he doesn’t care, not with the way Jeonghan kisses him so well. Not with the moonlight painting him so pallidly. Not with Jeonghan’s hands sliding into his pants, cupping his erection -

Seungcheol pulls away with a gasp, tilting his head back as Jeonghan touches him slowly. “J-Jeonghan…”

“I want you, Seungcheol,” he whispers, a soft breath in the summer night, starting fires beneath Seungcheol’s skin.

“Is that so?” he attempts around the moans he swallows down, around the fog in his brain. “And what exactly for?”

“Isn’t obvious?” He thumbs Seungcheol’s wet slit, breath coming just as short and heavy as Seungcheol’s. “I’ve a safe house here, we can go to it - “

It takes every last ounce of his self-control but he pulls away from Jeonghan and his heavenly hands. He won’t be made a fool of, especially not by a pirate. “I’m not stupid, Jeonghan. The most infamous pirate to sail Joseon’s seas trying to have sex with me practically the moment I set foot in Ningpo?”

Jeonghan smiles devilishly, hair half out of its braid, face reddened, breath quick, and clothes rumpled. He’s a gorgeous, cruel creature and part of Seungcheol wants so badly to go home with him. Wants to lose himself in his body. But he’d be an imbecile to let someone like Yoon Jeonghan get him under his thumb like that. “All right,” Jeonghan concedes. “You’re smart, lieutenant.”

“Smarter than you give me credit for,” he murmurs.

Jeonghan’s smile only grows and he presses against Seungcheol once more, hand sliding down his chest. “Till next time,” he echoes.

“What makes you think I’ll want to see you again like this?”

“You’re not pushing me away,” he murmurs, close enough that Seungcheol can taste his breath -

And then he’s pulling back. Turning around and walking down the darkened street, just as quickly as he appeared.

Seungcheol is left alone, with an erection he won’t be able to sate and desire thrumming in his veins.

“Till next time,” he whispers to the empty air.

The ship is dead quiet when Jeonghan returns; the soft push and pull of the waves no doubt enough to lull everyone to sleep. But a lantern remains lit in the captain’s quarters and Jeonghan approaches it, taking care to be quiet as to not awaken his men. Every single one of them would have his head for it - except for Jisoo, who sits at the desk in Jeonghan’s quarters, scribbling something onto a piece of parchment. As if he belongs here. It brings a smile to Jeonghan’s lips and he begins to undress the moment he closes the door.

“You’re back,” Jisoo says monotonously. “Thought you’d be gone all night.”

“Is that why you’ve taken up residence in _my_ quarters?” He stops stripping when he reaches his underclothes and pretends like there isn’t a soft wet spot rubbing against the head of his dick.

Jisoo sighs but doesn’t look up from whatever he’s doing. As usual. “I had business to finish and Jihoon said he’d cut my right hand off if I continued working down in the crew’s quarters. So I came here. Besides,” he finally glances up, a tiredness to his features Jeonghan’s never found among other first mates, “you were supposed to be gone till morning.”

It’s Jeonghan’s turn to sigh and he sits on the edge of his bed, trying not to think about Seungcheol’s big hands on his body. The way he came to life beneath his kisses, wide eyes shining so beautifully. “Yes well, it didn’t go quite as planned.”

“I see.” Jisoo smirks in a way that only he can get away with, in Jeonghan’s presence. “Junhui won’t like hearing that.”

“I didn’t say it went _badly,”_ Jeonghan snaps, as if Junhui would ever be disappointed in him. “I just didn’t end up with a Joseon naval lieutenant’s cock up my ass.”

Jisoo sighs once more and turns back to his parchment. “I see,” he says again. “But he’ll leave us to our business while we occupy the same port?”

He can still feel Seungcheol’s heavy breaths puffing against his own skin; can still feel how hot and hard he was in his hands, can still hear his moans and see the dark desperation in his eyes. How he couldn’t seem to let go even as he wrestled with himself. “I believe so. Even if I have to keep trying to get him where I want.”

A snicker crosses Jisoo’s lips. “I can hardly believe it; the infamous Scourge of Joseon bested in a sexual battle by some naval lieutenant?”

“Watch your mouth,” Jeonghan snaps, annoyance rising in him - but he’s not certain _why._ Is he upset Seungcheol rejected him or is his pride simply damaged by Jisoo’s words? “Or I’ll drop you off in Fukuoka and leave you there for Nakamoto to deal with.”

“Who’ll keep your men in line, then? Soonyoung?”

They share a brief laugh at the thought and then Jeonghan lays down in the ensuing silence, broken only by Jisoo’s quill scratching against parchment. Somehow, Choi Seungcheol has become the only man who’s ever said no to him - in battle, in sex, in negotiations, in _anything._ He’s the only person who’s never submitted to him and he knows it will make him mad until that changes. Until he gets the lieutenant in his bed.

So the chase begins.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, and let me know what you thought!!
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/scoups__ahoy) | [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/scoups__ahoy)


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